WONDERLAND • The Ultimate Wonder Woman Site

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based on adhering to honesty. I can live with something if someone didn't like it if I did it honestly, but I couldn't live with a dishonest approach and someone not liking it or even liking what I did. It just isn't gratifying."

Leery of people that are backpatters in this business, Lynda says that she often has to remember that there are people who will tell her what they think she wants to hear. "That prevents you from growing. Sometimes I'll think I'm doing something from the right standpoint, and I'm not. I appreciate the people around me who will tell me the truth. They are the impressive ones!"

She has always been aware of her talent. Her first performance was at the ripe age of 4 on a local talent television show in her hometown of Phoenix. Bitten by the bug, she went on to perform anywhere people would watch throughout her childhood, putting on shows in the backyard. As a teen she was an ugly duckling with a size 10 shoe and early height and she wasn't aware of her emerging beauty.

In high school she continued to pursue her love of performing and was voted most talented. After that, she joined a travelling musical group but realized that she was not ready for such a demanding existence and went back home. There, she signed with a local modelling agency. Almost immediately she entered the Miss World-U.S.A. contest and she won. Her winning was a shock to her, and she was upset at the strict system of the contest and felt embarrassed for the girls who lost. Her beauty crown provided a stepping stone for her, and when she came to Hollywood she beat 2,000 other actresses for the role of the lead in a new television series, 'Wonder Woman'.

About it, she says that it was a good time playing a female superheroine for three seasons. Quickly she went from living the

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hand-to-mouth existence of aspiring actors and actresses to being a recognized television star. Somehow she has managed not to become typecast in the role. "It will always be a part of me. Right now people recognize me as Wonder Woman first, but that's okay. In time that will fade". She has broken that mould by appearing before the public as a singer and by recording her songs. "I think when people see you do other things, see you in person on talk shows or performing, then they accept you as being you and not the character."

She wants to pursue a career as a dramatic actress as well as that of a singer, performer and dancer. Her film on the Shroud of Turin will be an actionadventure picture. It deals with the validity of the Shroud of Turin, with "its religious significance, its power". The film excites Lynda, for it concerns the question of faith, an element of her personal life that is precious to her. She and her husband are quiet about their religious convictions, not bringing up the topic unless asked. They shared the last moments before her show in Las Vegas in prayer together.

About her acting, Lynda observes, "I find that by studying my performances I learn more than by going to a workshop. When I did 'Wonder Woman' for the first two years I played a concept rather than a real person of many moods. I became so conceptualized that I was acting all the time. During the last two years I stopped doing that and started being myself in the part, reacting differently. I allowed her to be more realistic and human rather than so superhuman".

Of her life now, Lynda says, "Ever since I can remember all I wanted to do was perform, and that is what I am doing. Dreams are coming true for me. And the television special is the most rewarding thing I've done professionally." ERIC McFARLAND.